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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22674448">Stories of the Second Self: Breathless Depths</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/John_Steiner/pseuds/John_Steiner'>John_Steiner</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Alter Idem [126]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Police - Fandom, Urban Fantasy - Fandom</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 18:00:11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,265</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22674448</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/John_Steiner/pseuds/John_Steiner</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Not long after aiding a police officer rescue an abandoned angel infant, Jolene Walker receives an anonymous note. Reading it, Jolene realizes it's from the mother of the discarded infant and her coworker suggests it could be a suicide letter. Reaching out to police to update them on the case, Jolene is later asked by the department to help with a search. Jolene realizes that the police need her to search deep into Lake Erie.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Alter Idem [126]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1618813</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Stories of the Second Self: Breathless Depths</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>A couple hours into her shift, Jolene realized it would be a slow night at the clinic. Even the resident raging addict behaved himself around her.</p><p>"Hey Jo," the addict patient, who Jolene once had to restrain, greeted her as he walked past.</p><p>"Aaron," Jolene replied without a second glance.</p><p>With solid black eyes and pallid skin, Jolene learned that anything like a Resting Bitch Face really unsettled living people she encountered. Since all her teeth were razor sharp and curved inward Jolene's smile rattled many people all the more. Her coworkers got used to it, but as a force of habit, Jolene didn't try too hard to be friendly.</p><p>Nor, was she used to receiving cards, until one of the other aids, Deedee brought an envelop to her. "Someone left this on the front desk. It's for you."</p><p>Jolene accepted the envelop and pulled the card out to open it. She just stood there unsure what to make of the handwritten statement.</p><p>Deedee came around to read it, "'I thought I killed him. Thank you. I'm sorry.' Kinda reads like a suicide note"</p><p>That was something that hadn't occurred to Jolene, but she'd always struggled with knowing other people's emotional states. The apology was at the bottom where another sender might've written their name. Jolene realized what the card referenced. "Oh, the baby."</p><p>"That abandoned newborn you saved?" Deedee asked.</p><p>It was Deedee who Jolene called that night, when she helped the giant cop get the baby angel out of the trash receptacle that he'd been left in before the rain started.</p><p>"Did you see who dropped this off?" Jolene asked.</p><p>No," Deedee answered and shrugged. "Dennis said he left the desk for a minute and when he came back this was laying there."</p><p>"When?" Jolene asked.</p><p>"I don't know," Deedee replied, "Few minutes ago, I guess."</p><p>Jolene went to the front of the clinic and walked out the front door. It was nearly midnight, so she had no worry about sunlight. Surveying the parking lot, the streets around and skies above, Jolene saw no body heat outlines that looked like an angel, let alone one trying to put distance between themselves and the clinic.</p><p>There was nothing to be immediately done, so Jolene put the card in her locker and out of her thoughts until her lunch break. As a vampire, Jolene didn't really do much for lunch, and it was frowned upon for her to bring something that to her was food, but everyone else saw as a potential medical hazard.</p><p>At lunch, Jolene went to her car and drove to the police station. She went to the front desk and asked the officer working there, "Excuse me, but I need to talk to someone about that abandoned newborn a few weeks ago."</p><p>"Case number?" the officer asked without looking up from their terminal.</p><p>"I think I have that with me," Jolene replied, before fishing it out of her wallet and read it off aloud.</p><p>"Just a minute," the officer said, and then looked up at her with a sudden change in disposition. "Why're you asking, ma'am?"</p><p>"I was the one who helped that other officer get the child out of the trash can he was left in," Jolene explained, seeing the hardened expression, and realizing it was directed at her.</p><p>"Oh," the desk cop said, and then realization caught up, "Ohh! Right, the Midnight Samaritan. How can I help you?"</p><p>Jolene hadn't heard of herself referred to as a Samaritan, midnight or otherwise, so was taken aback by the name that, possibly, had circulated this department. She showed the envelop with the card still inside. "Well, someone came by my workplace and left this when no one was looking."</p><p>The desk officer reached out for it. "Okay, I can ensure it gets to the detectives handling the case."</p><p>Jolene pulled it back a bit. "Aren't you worried about prints or something?"</p><p>"Look, you've already handled it," the desk cop said, "So the damage is done. I'll leave it in the envelop."</p><p>"Ah, okay," Jolene reluctantly accepted, as she passed the card to the officer.</p><p>"Is there anything else?" the desk officer asked.</p><p>Something else struct Jolene that moment. "Our foyer security camera might help."</p><p>"If you have that video with you I can't accept it without court approval," the cop advised. "But please hang onto it just in case."</p><p>The desk officer had little to offer after that, so Jolene left. Over the next few days she started taking interest in local news, hoping to see something mentioned. Watching a television news segment, Jolene saw a report on a young angel teen who was missing. Guessing that it made the news because the girl was very photogenic and an angel, Jolene further learned that the teenager volunteered at Wings of Hope Ministries.</p><p>Depending on where one stood in Cincinnati, the Wings of Hope Ministries either was God's will manifested on Earth or just another scam artist's mega-church. However, stories abounded about its leader, Reverend Collins.</p><p>An emergent angel when Alter Idem began, he declared himself an archangel, and regularly preached on his television and radio programs about how the End Times were upon the world. Around town, however, were rumors that he liked young girls, way younger than himself, though he no longer looked old.</p><p>Then the larger picture became clear to Jolene, as she sighed at the end of the news report. "Oh my god."</p><p>"Hmm?" Ramsey called from a work desk.</p><p>Jolene lived in a restored mortuary with five other vampires and her human son from when she was still alive. Ramsey was an attorney and had commandeered a corner of the living room as his home office. He'd been reading legal materials for one of his client's current financial deals.</p><p>"You remember that night when someone left that baby in the trash?" Jolene reminded Ramsey.</p><p>"Oh, yeah," Ramsey answered, still reading documents.</p><p>"I think the mother left the kid because Reverend Collins fathered it," Jolene said.</p><p>"Sounds like the kind of scummy thing I'd expect a reverend to do," Ramsey remarked, "Though, kidnapping or bumping off the mother isn't."</p><p>"They just said she's missing." Jolene pointed to the TV.</p><p>Ramsey didn't have anything further to say, but it still gnawed at the back of Jolene's mind. She decided she'd poke around on her own, but opted to wait until daylight. The last thing Jolene wanted to do was stalk the streets at night looking for one of the living who had gone missing. It made people nervous, cops in particular.</p><p>With a mist spell enshrouding the mortuary grounds, Jolene depended on the morning news show to tell her when the sun rose. From there, she donned a pair of snow pants over her jeans, winter gloves, and a heavy parka with hood, as well as her polarized face shield.</p><p>She drove her son to school, and then went around the neighborhood that the news said the lost girl was from. Again mindful of being a vampire, Jolene didn't go around asked about the girl, though she eavesdropped on random talk where she heard it.</p><p>Most of that was the usual 'how could this happen,' and 'she was such a good girl,' kinda shit that made Jolene grateful that she and other nightcrawlers were never described in such disingenuous tones. Not a one made mention of the possibility that she was in a sexual relationship with Reverend Collins or anyone else, adding to the superficiality of the gossipers Jolene overheard.</p><p>Not having the predisposition to be obsessed, Jolene gave up after a few days and put it out of her mind. Then came a call on her cell phone, while she sat on the couch with a book.</p><p>"Ms Walker," the formally hard sound tone spoke when Jolene accepted the call on her cell. "This is Sergent Simon Davidson of the Cincinnati Police Department Personal Crimes Unit."</p><p>"Is this about that thank you card I turned in?" Jolene asked, setting the book aside.</p><p>"In a matter of speaking," Sergeant Davidson answered, "I know this is an unusual request, but we're wondering if you could help us with a search."</p><p>"What kind of help?" Jolene became wary, but had no idea if she successfully kept that out of her voice.</p><p>"Nothing personal, but you vampires don't breath, right?" the police sergeant asked.</p><p>Jolene's brow creased with confusion. "Uhh, yeah, sort of. We have to in order to talk, but we don't need oxygen."</p><p>"Do you know how to swim?" Sergeant Davidson asked, and then added. "Or, I guess it doen't matter. What I mean, Ms. Walker is I'm asking if you would be willing to do a dive search for us. It's Lake Erie, which is out of our jurisdiction, and deep enough that divers would use up more oxygen getting to depth than they have left to actually search. Hypothermia and low light are other issues, which, as the Pentacaste Division people tell us, is something else you don't have to worry about."</p><p>Jolene was sure that the police were desperate if they came to her or some other vampire for help like this, though she went along with it. She did indeed know how to swim, but Jolene knew nothing of scuba diving. Granted, the cop was right, in that she wouldn't have to now.</p><p>Mikey, another of the vampire housemates, volunteered to babysit Terry, her son. The Ohio State Police offered her transportation up to the north of the state and provided her with a diving suit and other gear on the scene at night.</p><p>One officer told Jolene that they normally wouldn't be doing dives at night, but that they couldn't see of an easy way for her to cover up from sunlight before submersing into water deep enough that UV light wouldn't pose a risk to her. By reflex, the Dive Team Underwater Search and Recovery officer started to prep a SCUBA tank, and then caught Jolene's befuddled expression.</p><p>"Oh, right," the underwater recovery officer remarked, "So, ahh, if you're all set."</p><p>Other officers offered her diving lights, which Jolene did accept, because she also didn't know just how good her night vision was in deep water. Walking out onto a pier with a couple of officers also geared up to dive, Jolene wondered just how many vampires went diving or spelunking.</p><p>With searchlights beaming out onto the lake from the shore and from police boats, Jolene sized up the water surface. It'd been too long since she swam frequently, and after turning she only went into swimming pools a couple of times. Though, if worse came to worst, she could simply walk into and out of the lake virtually without heed of how long it took.</p><p>The state police didn't say much about why they wanted to check Lake Erie, but they apparently had enough of an idea about the angel girl to know this zone of the lake was where they should look. Jolene nodded to the water.</p><p>"Okay, I'm ready," Jolene said to the two scuba suited officers, and then exhaled before she jumped in.</p><p>Though Jolene needn't worry about air, she did keep her mouth closed in order to keep water out of her lungs. That would've affect her ballast when trying to surface, and too much air in her lungs would slow her descent.</p><p>Bringing the lights turned out to be necessary after several hundred feet down. The water was too cold to offer much infrared to her eyes, and not much human-visible spectra made it down this far. Over the course of two hours, Jolene frequently checked a dive timer she'd been given. She wondered if she'd find nothing after spending the night down here. That's until she caught a glimpse of long hair raised up and slowing waving about.</p><p>Paddling downward more, Jolene found the girl. In the gloom, in which all others would've been blind, she herself could barely make out the wings. The feathers looked like discarded plastic, as they bent light around them, but they were still rigid and splayed as if in a church painting. The girl's arms were unbound and loosely floated out to the sides. Only one leg had anything tied to it, and from that the line went straight down to a weight.</p><p>Jolene realized then that Deedee was right. The card this girl left was effectively her last goodbye to life.</p><p>Reminded of what she brought, Jolene took one of the diving glow sticks and attached it to the line where it had been tied to the girl's ankle. She tied two others onto the teen's wrists, and then started back up slowly. No one knew if vampires could get the bends, but it was a safe assumption, she was told, because gas solubility constants remained a fact of physics.</p><p>On breaching, Jolene swam to the pier and climbed up. "She's down there."</p><p>"Jesus Christ," escaped one officer's lips, as he looked away.</p><p>"There was just one rope tied to her ankle," Jolene said, "I'm guessing it goes down to a weight, since it's straight. I tied on three glow sticks, though I'm not sure how long they'll last."</p><p>"Long enough that we'll be able to recover her during the day," a very solemn sounding dive officer replied, "Thank you, Ms Walker."</p><p>Pacing away from the pier, as the word spread, Jolene realized she was one of the few people not shaken by the discovery. It was the night that her spontaneous turning into a vampire started to make sense.</p>
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